Miliband Vows to ‘Mend’ Union Links Amid Falkirk Selection Furor

July 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Labour leader Ed Miliband said
he wanted to “mend” not “end” the party’s relationship with
unions as he sought to repair the damage from allegations that
its biggest donor tried to rig the selection of a candidate.

“The presence of ordinary working people -- from
shopworkers to nurses, engineers to scientists, construction
workers to classroom assistants -- in a political party should
be its biggest asset,” he wrote in The Observer newspaper
today. “To cut these individuals loose would make politics more
out of touch, not less, more remote from working people.”

Labour, the main opposition party in the U.K., has asked
the police to investigate allegations that the Unite union in
Falkirk, Scotland, had been signing up people as Labour members
without their knowledge in an attempt install its favored
candidate in the vacant parliamentary constituency. Unite has
donated 11.8 million pounds ($17.5 million) of the 60.2 million
pounds Labour has received since the 2010 general election.

Miliband, who became Labour leader three years ago, has
sought to contain the controversy’s impact on the party’s
popularity. On July 5, Labour handed the findings of an internal
inquiry to the police. A day earlier, Labour lawmaker Tom Watson
quit his job running the party’s 2015 election campaign. Prime
Minister David Cameron says the dispute shows unions enjoy
excessive influence under Miliband.

Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey denies any criminal
wrongdoing by the union. Writing in the Sunday Mirror newspaper,
he urged Miliband to “step back from the brink of a ruinous
division.”

‘Absolutely Wrong’

Labour’s deputy leader, Harriet Harman, said McClusky is
“absolutely wrong” to say there is no foundation to the
allegations.

In his Observer article, Miliband said events in Falkirk
had “betrayed the values of our party” and pledged to take
action to prevent a repeat. Reform of parliamentary selection
rules to ensure they are “fair, transparent and open” will be
outlined soon, he said.